Elon Musk Would Function Secretary of D.O.G.E. beneath Trump?

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Elon Musk may very well be placing Tesla individuals in an actual pickle, and never within the methods you could be considering. Or possibly it’s only a not-very-thought-out “yeah, let’s do it!” after some combination of imbibed potions however would by no means really occur. Both manner, since he’s put it on the market and there are probably causes he’d go that route, let’s rapidly discover just a few eventualities for Musk and Tesla.

First, what the heck are we speaking about?

A few days in the past, Elon Musk posted this:

I’m keen to serve pic.twitter.com/BJhGbcA2e0

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 20, 2024

That was within the midst of many different right-wing posts, together with claiming that Donald Trump didn’t name neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville “very positive individuals” in 2017 (oy vey) and lamenting that gun emojis look increasingly more like toy weapons relatively than actual weapons.

The purpose of this tweet embedded above seems to be that Elon Musk would fortunately function the pinnacle of a “Division of Authorities Effectivity” (DOGE). Naturally, that’s a reference to the Dogecoin cryptocurrency Musk puffed up for years. So, there’s a query of whether or not that is all a joke, however that appears unlikely since he says “I’m keen to serve” and has indicated elsewhere that he might work in a Trump administration on such a factor.

The primary issues that got here to thoughts for me with this had been:

1. Tesla followers and shareholders could also be pleased with Musk entering into authorities beneath the idea that he might affect issues from there to assist Tesla in numerous methods.
2. Nevertheless, Musk would want to chop again considerably on his Tesla work if he took that job, and most Tesla followers and shareholders nonetheless see him as important to progress within the firm. (There are numerous others who’ve come to conclude the alternative, however the latest shareholder vote appears to point these individuals are within the minority.)

Would the identical individuals who could be completely happy about Musk getting that job be completely happy about him stepping again from Tesla (to not point out X, Neuralink, SpaceX, The Boring Firm, and no matter different ventures I’m forgetting now)?

Nevertheless, I wasn’t even considering deeply sufficient about this. As CNN factors out, “Something’s doable, in fact, in a Trump 2.0 White Home. However to tackle any main function in that administration, Musk would have a mountain of conflicts of curiosity to climb.” Ah, yeah, you may’t simply work within the US authorities whereas working a enterprise — there are conflicts of curiosity with that. (To not say Trump wouldn’t work to dismantle them, however that’s the story right this moment.)

“By legislation (and by widespread sense), you may’t work on authorities issues that will have an effect on your individual private funds. That’s an enormous drawback for somebody like Musk, whose $245 billion fortune is essentially tied up in shares of Tesla, SpaceX and X (previously Twitter), alongside along with his holdings within the fields of biotech, synthetic intelligence, satellite tv for pc communications and street infrastructure tasks.”

Sure, and, apart from Tesla, which is regulated by numerous authorities companies similar to different automotive corporations, SpaceX will get big contracts from the US authorities. How would Musk disentangle himself from all of that? By promoting his shares in these corporations? Hahaha, that’s not taking place. “A lot would rely upon what the job is and the way it pertains to his financial curiosity,” stated Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Regulation College. “Is there something that wouldn’t relate to his financial pursuits? I’m unsure what that will be.”

It appears to me that is one other not-very-thought-out concepts from Trump and Musk geared toward two issues: getting extra consideration and help for themselves. On the similar time, each are completely happy — if not keen — to interrupt guidelines, even legal guidelines, and spend the implications of that using extra attorneys. So, who is aware of what they’d push and take a look at? Nonetheless, simply as Dogecoin by no means went to the moon like Musk hyped for months and even years, don’t anticipate Musk to enter authorities service.